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As soon as the body hit the floor, it exploded. Fox should have known that old sleemo would have yet another thing hidden up his too-loose sleeves, but his own body was far too tired from the years of abuse, the torture from ten minutes ago, and the fight which just ended. He was blown backwards and hit a wall, slumping down when his legs gave up.
Voices swam around him, unintelligible, and his vision was warped, even once his bucket was removed. When he tried to speak, he felt liquid in his throat, coughing and rattling his whole chest doing nothing to properly dispel it. He felt cold all over, like it had grabbed hold of him through the sharp pain of that lightning and was dragging him down. He thought he might have heard his name, but he wasn't sure. So once more, he tried to speak, managing through wet lips, "I d... don' feel s'good."
Then Fox was being moved, probably, the room spinning around him.
Everything was pain: his head, his ribcage, his back and all his limbs... and then he felt everything seize up and was greeted by blackness.
Several times he felt like he was awake, but not entirely, and the pain did not cease. The chill encompassing him ebbed and flowed, sometimes taking up his whole chest, sometimes being pushed out by a pain so bright it burned. He always heard voices, but could never figure out what they were saying, or if they were anything more than figments of his own mind. But between those moments, he did sleep.
Eventually, slowly, sore but not in pain, with the softness Fox hadn't thought would ever return, he floated back to consciousness. And his brothers were by his side.
0-o-0
Thorn had nearly torn his hair out waiting for news on Fox's condition. He'd heard bits and pieces as they fixed different issues, and eventually when Fever had come to tell him, Stone, and Thire what they'd found. Lacerations surrounded by severe cauterization. Lightning burns. A faltering heartbeat.
It had taken hours of surgery to get Fox stable, and days after that of rest and recuperation which included at least two dunks in a bacta tank and feeding tubes and IVs and-
A lot. It was a lot.
So it wasn't any wonder he'd been snappish towards Fox's batchmates. "Showing up at the end, pretending they'd never left him," as he'd complained to Stone. But they were contrite in their own ways, Wolffe and Cody with the best sabacc faces, but all of the Guard commanders had learned to read body language as a defense mechanism after only a few weeks around so many senators. So all of Fox's batchmates did care, and did want to see him better, and were genuinely sorry for their previous behavior. Whatever.
Thorn had reluctantly allowed them to sit at Fox's bedside too.
And so it was, two hours after everyone--Thorn, Thire, and Stone, Bly, Cody, Wolffe, and Ponds--had gathered in his room, after the drugs keeping him resting and healing were decreased, that Fox's eyes blinked open. Thorn squeezed his hand, hoping to provide both comfort and keep Fox from tugging on any medical equipment.
"Hey, Fox. You look like one of Grizzer's chew toys."
Bly, on the other side of the bed, made a protesting noise, but Fox only blinked and smiled, still clearly sleepy and dopey. "Means miss'n success."
Thorn laughed softly, and his brothers joined him.
"You're all kriffed," Wolffe said, loud enough to get Fox's attention.
Brows furrowed, Fox made a questioning noise.
"They wanted to see you," Stone explained.
Cody, sitting at Fox's other side, leaned forward to catch his eyes. "Do you remember what happened?"
"...Palp...?"
Thorn took the closed cup Thire placed at his shoulder and brought the straw to Fox's mouth. He didn't need much encouragement to drink, and his voice sounded less rough when he cleared it.
"We killed him," Ponds explained, shuffling closer. "Palpatine isn't Chancellor anymore."
"He was also a Sith," Bly huffed, "So there's that."
Fox mulled it over for a bit, staring at his batchmates as they each spoke, then turning to look at Thorn. "'re you sure?"
He meant confirmation of the death; It was the same tone he used for the end of each mission. Thorn nodded.
"Sure as the fact Thorn's roots are showing," Thire added.
Thorn scowled and tried to step on his foot, but his brother moved back too quickly.
At least then, Fox grinned. He was still weak, still clearly exhausted, but he was healing. He was alive and so clearly Fox. And that was the best thing Thorn could have asked for.